This Mama Cooks! On a Diet™

Grilled Corn and Poblano Guacamole #iloveavocados

2013-06-19T17:00:09Z

This post brought to you by Avocados from Mexico. All opinions are 100% mine.

My husband, Paul, and I threw a party for his coworkers and their families after work last Friday, figuring that would be a perfect evening for our guests since it didn’t interfere with their weekend plans. As we do for many of our barbecues, we ask our guests to bring a side dish, buns, or dessert since we’re providing the drinks and the main course – in this case two smoked Boston butt pork shoulders and two smoked chickens. (Check out my recipes for smoked pulled pork and smoked chicken.)

However, I wanted to prepare a gluten free, vegetarian side dish just in case we had a guest who didn’t eat meat or had to stay away from delicious mac and cheese someone inevitably brings. (I live in the South, after all.) So I decided to prepare a bowl of Grilled Corn and Poblano Guacamole. It’s one of Rick Bayless recipes with Avocados from Mexico. This healthy recipe can be used as a salad, as a dip with tortilla chips, or in tacos.

Grilled Corn and Poblano Guacamole is a great way to use leftover corn on the cob, too! If you don’t normally cook your corn on the grill, try it as it’s delicious! Or you can cheat like I did and use the one pound bag of frozen roasted corn they sell at Trader Joe’s. Since I used a lot of corn and didn’t mash the avocados, this turned it into more of a side dish type salad. If you want a true corn guacamole, use the amounts from Rick’s recipe below.

Grilled Corn and Poblano Guacamole

Ingredients:

2 small ears fresh corn, shucked
1 small poblano chile
8 ounces tomatillos, husked (about 4 large)
3 avocados from Mexico, halved, pitted, peeled and roughly chopped
3 tablespoons finely chopped red onion, rinsed
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat gas grill to medium or prepare a charcoal grill. Grill corn, turning occasionally, until golden on all sides, about 5 minutes. When cool enough to handle, cut kernels from the cob; remove to a large bowl.
Grill the chile and tomatillos, turning until skins are nicely charred, about 10 minutes. When cool enough to handle, peel the charred skin from the peppers with your fingers. Remove stem, core and seeds; chop chile and remove to the bowl. Finely chop tomatillos, capturing juices, and add to the bowl.
Add avocado, onion, cilantro and salt.
Coarsely mash avocado and gently stir to combine all ingredients

Enter the BBQ Like Rick Bayless sweepstakes

Have you heard about The Avocados From Mexico BBQ like Rick Bayless! Sweeps? They’re giving away a trip for two to Chicago to have dinner at Rick Bayless’s Frontera Grill. All you need to do is register online via The Avocados From Mexico Facebook page.

Grilled Corn and Poblano Guacamole #iloveavocados is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

Wordless Wednesday: JD McPherson at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, GA #ww

2013-06-19T02:21:55Z

It’s rare that I write about anything but food, health and occasionally travel here at This Mama Cooks! On a Diet. But I had to share seeing the wonderful JD McPherson last week at the world famous 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia. Not only that, but the band stayed at my home for a couple of nights, while they played Atlanta.

You see, Paul and I are good friends with JD’s bass player and producer, Jimmy Sutton, from when lived in Chicago a thousand years ago. (Or so it seems.) Having the guys staying with us, getting caught up with Jimmy, and seeing the band reminded me of the days before we had kids – and weren’t too old to stay up all night dancing, chatting, eating, and drinking. Sigh.

Wordless Wednesday: JD McPherson at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, GA #ww is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

Yam Chocolate Spice Bars from Holly Clegg’s Eating Well to Fight Arthritis cookbook

2013-06-16T19:08:50Z

I saved the best for last – Holly Clegg’s recipe for Yam Chocolate Spice Bars from her new cookbook, Holly Clegg’s trim&TERRIFIC™ Eating Well To Fight Arthritis: 200 Easy Recipes and Practical Tips to Help Reduce Inflammation and Ease Symptoms [affiliate link]! Holly says that one bite of this incredible fall favorite made with a spice cake mix, yam filling and chocolate chips is a taste sensation. In fact, she finds that everyone requests this recipe after having a bite. It’s also a great way to use up leftover cooked sweet potatoes. Finally, since bar cookies freeze well, feel free to make up several batches in case you have a craving.

Yam Chocolate Spice Bars

Print
Recipe

Ingredients

1 (18.25-ounce) box spice cake mix
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1 (8-ounce) package reduced-fat cream cheese
1 (15-ounce) can sweet potatoes, drained and mashed or 1 cup cooked mashed Louisiana yams
1 (16-ounce) box confectioners’ sugar
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F. Coat 13x9x2-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
In mixing bowl, beat together cake mix, butter, and egg until well mixed. Spread batter into prepared pan.
In mixing bowl, beat together cream cheese, sweet potatoes, confectioners’ sugar, egg whites, and vanilla until creamy. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour mixture over batter in pan.
Bake 40-50 minutes or until top is golden brown. Cool to room temperature and cut into squares.

Nutrition Grade N/A from CalorieCount

Weight Watchers POINTS = N/A

Servings: Makes 48 squares

Serving size: 1 square
Calories: 134
Calories from Fat: 42 (31%)
Total Fat: 5g
Saturated fat: 3g
Unsaturated fat: 2g
Sodium: 116mg
Total Carbohydrates: 22g
Sugar: 16g
Fiber: 0g
Protein: 2g
Cholesterol: 12mg

Dietary Exchanges: 1 1/2 other carbohydrate, 1 fat

Recipe and photo used with permission of the author.

Yam Chocolate Spice Bars from Holly Clegg’s Eating Well to Fight Arthritis cookbook is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

Chicken Thai Pizza from Holly Clegg’s Eating Well to Fight Arthritis cookbook

2013-06-16T18:48:57Z

Here’s another recipe from Holly Clegg’s trim&TERRIFIC™ Eating Well To Fight Arthritis: 200 Easy Recipes and Practical Tips to Help Reduce Inflammation and Ease Symptoms [affiliate link]. Holly shares this Terrific Tip:

Buy pre-shredded carrots in bag. Purchase chopped green onions in produce department for extra ease. If Peanut Sauce is too spicy or if desired, substitute barbecue sauce. You can also top with red pepper slices for vitamin C.

If you’re gluten free, use Udi’s Gluten Free Pizza Crusts.

Chicken Thai Pizza

Chicken, onion and carrots with peanut sauce make a spunky and robust phenomenal pizza.

Print
Recipe

Ingredients

1 (12-inch) thin pizza crust
1/4 cup peanut sauce
1 1/2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
1/2 cup red onion slices
1/2 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup chopped green onion
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, optional

Directions

Preheat oven 450°F.
Spread pizza crust with peanut sauce. Top with chicken, red onion, carrots, green onion and cheese.
Place on oven rack and bake 8-10 minutes or until pizza is lightly browned. Top with cilantro, if desired.

Prep Time: 20 - 30 Minutes

Cook Time: 08 - 10 Minutes

Total Time: 28 - 40 Minutes

Nutrition Grade N/A from CalorieCount

Weight Watchers POINTS = N/A

Servings: Makes 8 (1 slice) servings

Serving size: 1 slice
Calories: 221
Calories from Fat: 69 (31%)
Total Fat: 7g
Saturated fat: 2g
Unsaturated fat: 5g
Sodium: 356mg
Total Carbohydrates: 21g
Sugar: 2g
Fiber: 1g
Protein: 16g
Cholesterol: 30mg

Dietary Exchanges: 1 1/2 starch, 2 lean meat

Recipe and photo used with permission of the author.

Chicken Thai Pizza from Holly Clegg’s Eating Well to Fight Arthritis cookbook is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

Wordless Wednesday: Sushi! #ww

2013-06-12T15:22:58Z

After taking the kids to the Athens Human Rights Festival, we took them over to Shokitini’s for sushi. I was proud that my kids were up for trying some new foods, like the rainbow roll. After an afternoon of punk rock and drag queens, I guess they were up for anything!

Wordless Wednesday: Sushi! #ww is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

Bourbon & Chocolate Pecan Pie #glutenfree #gfcommunity

2013-06-12T15:10:25Z

As an Udi’s Gluten Free Community leader, I’m always on the lookout for recipes that I can easily make gluten free – especially desserts! We had a guest over recently, who I wanted to make something special for to thank him for connecting me with my new kinesiologist. (The doctor has done wonders for my shoulder and helped me avoid another surgery.)

Since we had a bag of pecans in the freezer – courtesy of my husband’s former landlord who has a pecan tree in his yard – I thought I’d make a gluten free version of Martha Stewart’s Sorghum-Sweetened Chocolate Pecan Pie. I had made it at Thanksgiving and loved the mixture of bourbon, sorghum, coconut palm sugar, and chocolate along with the pecans. Plus, it gave me an excuse to use some leftover chocolate.

I used a premade gluten free crust from Wholly Wholesome. I wasn’t totally happy with it as too hard to cut! Next time I use the crust (the package came with two), I won’t prebake it as maybe that’ll help. Feel free to use your favorite gluten free pie crust recipe, mix, or premade crust. Or try making a crust out of rice cakes like I did with my Chocolate and Almond Freezer Pie.

Like my freezer pie, this is not a light dessert, so make sure to serve up small pieces! However, I promise not to come over with the Diet Patrol if you want to serve it up with a scoop of ice cream or some whipped cream. In my opinion, it’s yummy and decadent enough without the added goodies.

Bourbon & Chocolate Pecan Pie

Based on Martha Stewart’s Sorghum-Sweetened Chocolate Pecan Pie

Ingredients:

1 gluten free pie shell
1/3 cup gluten free all-purpose baking mix
1/2 cup organic coconut palm sugar
Pinch of salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons bourbon (I highly recommend Breckenridge Bourbon Whiskey.)
1/2 cup sorghum
1 cup pecans, toasted and roughly chopped
4 ounces dark chocolate, roughly chopped (I used Green & Black’s 70% organic dark chocolate.)
1/2 cup buttery spread, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk together gluten free all-purpose baking mix, coconut palm sugar, and salt.
Stir in eggs just enough to combine all the ingredients.
Stir in bourbon, sorghum, pecans, and chocolate.
Pour melted butter into bowl and stir until thoroughly combined.
Place pie shell on a baking sheet.
Pour pie filling into shell and bake for 35 minutes. The top should be set but the center may be slightly gooey. (Test by jiggling the pan. The center may move a bit, but the sides won’t.)
Cool completely on a wire rack.
Serve at room temperature and store in the refrigerator.

Bourbon & Chocolate Pecan Pie #glutenfree #gfcommunity is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

Put on your sundae best

2013-06-09T20:08:40Z

Put on your sundae best is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

Layered Mexican Christmas Eve Salad with Smoked Beets #SRC

2013-06-10T04:04:33Z

For this month’s Secret Recipe Club challenge, I was thrilled to be assigned a food blogger from my old home state of Colorado, Lea Ann Brown of Cooking on the Ranch. I so miss Colorado’s food blogging community! While I was tempted to try out several of Lea Ann’s breakfast recipes (anything with an egg is A-OK with me), I decided trying her Mexican Christmas Eve Salad would be more seasonally appropriate. Yes, yes, I know it’s June, but making a nice salad for dinner seems like a good idea when it’s too hot to cook. Don’t you agree?

I took Lea Ann’s advice and make this a chopped salad and arranged it in a trifle bowl, since she felt the Mexican Christmas Eve Salad reminded her of an English trifle. In addition, I did a little research on Ensalada de Nochebuena or Christmas Eve Salad. According to Hispanic Kitchen,

Although many variations exist, three ingredients are at the core: beets, pomegranate and jicama. The root vegetable – jicama is also known as "Mexican potato," so it's an appropriate member. Beets are included for color along with pomegranate seeds sprinkled across the top. Apples, oranges, and sometimes bananas round out the list.

Lea Ann’s version uses pomegranate seeds, romaine lettuce, peanuts, oranges, jicama, along with red and golden beets. I’ve seen other recipes use pepitas (pumpkin seeds), apples, bananas, and pine nuts. I kept pretty true to her recipe, but omitted the peanuts due to my daughter’s nut allergy. I’ll serve pepitas on the side if anyone’s interested in adding them to their salad, though I doubt my kids will go for it. For the dressing, most recipes call for Crème Mexicana, which is Mexican sour cream. If you cannot find it in your grocery store or want to use something lighter, use nonfat Greek yogurt instead. I found Lea Ann’s version super thick, so I thinned it with rice vinegar. Finally, I doubled Lea Ann’s recipe so it would fit in my Pampered Chef trifle bowl.

How to smoke beets

After having smoked cauliflower at Pulaski Heights BBQ in Athens, GA, I started experimenting by smoking various vegetables from beets to kohlrabi. While you can roast beets in the oven using my method for cooking and peeling beets, I love smoking beets in my electric smoker. Here’s how:

Set smoker to 275 degrees. Add your favorite type of wood chips. And don’t forget to add water to the drip pan!
Coat an oven safe roasting pan with cooking spray. (Make sure your pan will fit inside your smoker.)
Remove beet tops from beets and set aside. (Use the beet tops to make a Simple Beet Salad.)
Wash beets. Cut into quarters and place in your roasting pan.
Place roasting pan in your smoker and cook for 3 hours or until the beets are soft when pricked with a knife or fork.
Remove from smoker and let cool.
Peel skin off beats with a paring knife.

Layered Mexican Christmas Eve Salad

Salad ingredients:

6 red beets, smoked, peeled and roughly chopped
1 romaine heart, coarsely chopped
1 small jicama, peeled and roughly chopped
4 navel oranges, peeled and roughly chopped
2 (5.3 ounce) containers pomegranate arils

Directions:

Layer ingredients in your trifle bowl in the order listed. For fun you may want to break up the romaine lettuce into two layers.
Since beets have a tendency to run, you may want to have them as the bottom layer.

Dressing ingredients:

1/2 cup light mayonnaise
1/2 cup Crème Mexicana
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 canned chipotle chilies, minced
4 tablespoons rice vinegar

Directions:

In a small mixing bowl, combine ingredients and stir until blended.
Serve on the side.

More from the Secret Recipe Club!

Want to join the Secret Recipe Club? You can sign up here.

Layered Mexican Christmas Eve Salad with Smoked Beets #SRC is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

Hummus & Tabbouleh Salad from Holly Clegg’s Eating Well to Fight Arthritis

2013-06-04T13:44:03Z

This week and next, I’ll be sharing some recipes from Holly Clegg’s trim&TERRIFIC™ Eating Well To Fight Arthritis: 200 Easy Recipes and Practical Tips to Help Reduce Inflammation and Ease Symptoms [affiliate link].

Let’s start with Holly’s Hummus & Tabbouleh Salad. She told me she made this for a party and everyone was raving about it. She’s been using the Hummus &Tabbouleh Salad as an appetizer, yet it's kind of like a salad, too - but with a lot of hummus! I think it would make a wonderful vegetarian sandwich spread, don’t you?

If you’re gluten free, substitute quinoa for the tabbouleh and serve on brown rice tortillas or gluten free bread.

Hummus & Tabbouleh Salad

A layered mound of fantastic flavors makes a splendid Mediterranean salad. Serve with toasted pita bread. Also, makes a great dip.

Did you know that parsley is also a good source of plant iron? One cup contains about 20% of your RDA.

Print
Recipe

Ingredients

1 (5.25-ounce) box Tabbouleh mix wheat salad (makes 2 1/2 cups)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 cup finely chopped cucumber
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley (flat leaf preferred)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste
1 (10-ounce) container roasted red pepper hummus
1/4 cup crumbled reduced-fat feta cheese

Directions

In bowl, prepare tabbouleh mix according to package instructions. After water is absorbed, fluff with fork and add olive oil, mixing well.
To tabbouleh, add red onion, tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, lemon juice and season to taste.
On large serving plate, spread hummus, top with tabbouleh salad and sprinkle with feta. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes before serving.

Prep Time: 30 Minutes

Cook Time: 20 Minutes

Total Time: 50 Minutes

Nutrition Grade N/A from CalorieCount

Weight Watchers POINTS = N/A

Servings: Makes 4 servings

Serving size: 1 cup
Calories: 308
Calories from Fat: 103 (34%)
Total Fat: 12g
Saturated fat: 1g
Unsaturated fat: 11g
Sodium: 909mg
Total Carbohydrates: 47g
Sugar: 7g
Fiber: 11g
Protein: 9g
Cholesterol: 3mg

Dietary Exchanges: 3 starch, 2 fat

Recipe and photo used with permission of the author.

Hummus & Tabbouleh Salad from Holly Clegg’s Eating Well to Fight Arthritis is a post from: This Mama Cooks! Stop by for more healthy recipes!

This Mama Cooks! On a Diet™

Grilled Corn and Poblano Guacamole #iloveavocados

Grilled Corn and Poblano Guacamole

Enter the BBQ Like Rick Bayless sweepstakes

Wordless Wednesday: JD McPherson at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, GA #ww

Sponsored video: foods you should be buying organic

Yam Chocolate Spice Bars from Holly Clegg’s Eating Well to Fight Arthritis cookbook

Yam Chocolate Spice Bars

Ingredients

Directions

Chicken Thai Pizza from Holly Clegg’s Eating Well to Fight Arthritis cookbook

Chicken Thai Pizza

Ingredients

Directions

Wordless Wednesday: Sushi! #ww

Bourbon & Chocolate Pecan Pie #glutenfree #gfcommunity

Bourbon & Chocolate Pecan Pie

Ingredients:

Directions

Put on your sundae best

Layered Mexican Christmas Eve Salad with Smoked Beets #SRC

How to smoke beets

Layered Mexican Christmas Eve Salad

More from the Secret Recipe Club!

Hummus & Tabbouleh Salad from Holly Clegg’s Eating Well to Fight Arthritis

Hummus & Tabbouleh Salad

Ingredients

Directions